Kaspa Core Team

Tips

To stay updated on the core team's work progress, you can check in the official development groups:

1. Founder and Theoretical Architect - Yonatan Sompolinsky


(1). Yonatan Basic Introduction

Yonatan Sompolinsky Profile

Yonatan Sompolinsky is a very senior blockchain researcher and cryptography expert, and is the founder and theoretical architect of Kaspa. He holds a Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University (focusing on transaction ordering and MEV).

In 2013, Yonatan, together with his advisor Aviv Zohar, proposed the GHOST (Greedy Heaviest Observed Subtree) protocol. The GHOST protocol addresses the scalability limitations of traditional blockchain consensus algorithms by introducing a more efficient way to achieve consensus. It has played a key role in the development of various blockchain systems, particularly those using Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structures.

In 2016, Yonatan actively explored and advanced consensus algorithms for DAG-based systems. His research focused on finding effective methods to order transactions and prevent conflicts in DAG protocols, which led to the publication of the SPECTRE (Serialization of Proof-of-work Events) consensus algorithm, co-authored by Aviv Zohar. After these papers were released, the cryptocurrency and blockchain communities quickly became interested in Yonatan's work and began urging him to launch his own project.

In 2021, Yonatan founded KASPA, a Layer 1 blockchain running on a proof-of-work system that combines the GHOSTDAG protocol and uses a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG).

Reference: https://iq.wiki/zh/wiki/yonatan-sompolonsky

Tips

The GHOST protocol created by Yonatan in his early years is used by several famous projects (including Ethereum ETH).

(2). GHOST Protocol Used by Ethereum

(3). GHOST Protocol Used by XRP

(4). Yonatan's Early Bitcoin Papers Mentioned by Multiple Projects

Ethereum founder Vitalik (known as V God), AVAX founder, have both mentioned and cited Yonatan's papers:

(5). Yonatan's Name and Papers Mentioned by Many Projects

For detailed analysis, see this post: https://x.com/plzsats/status/1623783423407013892

(6). 2013 Aviv and Yonatan Discussing GHOST Technology in Bitcoin Community

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(7). ZCash Founder Zooko Discussing Yonatan's GHOST Technology

Info

Yonatan has a good personal relationship with ZCash founder Zooko.

Note:

The image below is a congratulatory message sent to Yonatan by a founding member of the ZCash team when Kaspa's testnet launched.



(8). Yonatan and the Satoshi Nakamoto Rumor (For Entertainment Only)

Yonatan accidentally revealed that his birthday is April 5th. Coincidentally, "Satoshi Nakamoto," the creator of Bitcoin, also has this birthday.

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So people started digging deeper and found more coincidences, leading many to suspect that Yonatan is Satoshi Nakamoto. Of course, Yonatan himself strongly denies this.

For details, please see the following links, for entertainment only:

Other information:

(9). Yonatan Denies Being Satoshi Nakamoto in Interview (May 2024)

In this article, Yonatan denies being Satoshi Nakamoto:

Q: In the comments of your YouTube interviews and Twitter Spaces, your fans often refer to you as Satoshi Nakamoto. How do you feel about this?

Like an idiot.

Q: Why?

I mean, it's heartwarming that some people think I can write production-ready codebases like Satoshi. I only got a 62 in my undergraduate C/C++ course, and that was only because the instructor was lenient. Maybe if Bitcoin was released in Java and had copilot assistance, then I might have been Satoshi, who knows.

Q: Do you know who Satoshi Nakamoto is?

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. Seriously, no one knows, and I don't think it's important to figure it all out. Satoshi's anonymity is at the core of Bitcoin's birth and the decentralization movement. Additionally, the value of discovering Satoshi's identity is overrated; take me for example, I know far more about cryptography and permissionless consensus than Satoshi; she (note: the original text uses "she") hasn't attended industry conferences in years.

2. Michael Sutton

3. Ori Newman

An Information-Rich Interview:

On October 24, 2025, Ori Newman gave an interview to XXIM. He revealed many early stories about Kaspa in the conversation.

Video as follows:

Text summary: 2025-10-24 XXIM Interview with Ori Newman

4. Other Core Team Members

According to relevant statistics, in 2025, there are approximately one hundred related developers, with about 64 working on core protocol-related development.

Due to limited information, many are only known by their X accounts, and some don't even have known X accounts. If discovered, they will be updated here.

Information Sources:

In the past 12 months, it is estimated that over 100 developers have contributed to the Kaspa ecosystem through various projects.

Based on our review, a rough classification is as follows:

  • Core protocol and nodes (Go and Rust implementations, KIP): approximately 64 developers

  • Wallets (Kaspa NG, KDX, Kaspium, KaspaCom, etc.): ~25 developers

  • Browsers and development tools (block explorers, analytics tools): approximately 12 developers

  • Layer-2 projects (e.g., Kasplex, Igra Labs): approximately 6 developers

This is our estimate based on public commit activity and public data from last year.

(1). coderofstuff

(2). eliottmea

(3). FreshAir08

(4). Hans Moog

  • https://x.com/hus_qy

    • Senior hacker in the crypto industry. Participates in Kaspa core team work. Funded by KEF.

(5). @IzioDev

Kaspa_KEF:

Welcome to the team, @IzioDev💚

@IzioDev is an experienced developer with over 15 years of experience in web development, infrastructure, and distributed systems; he has become a valuable asset to the #Kaspa community through maintaining @kasiamessaging and improving the Rusty Kaspa network.

🎁 His first gift as a mainnet core developer? Completing the merge of Pull-Request 740 (also known as VSPCv2, initialized by D-stacks last week!)

This upgrade allows complete transaction data to be returned through a single RPC call. Now UTXO data can be easily accessed without complex processes, whereas in the past, multiple RPC calls and custom local logic were required to "connect" the data together.

Shai Wyborski

  • Formerly participated in core work, co-author of GHOSTDAG paper.

  • Participated in early project launch work and did extensive community knowledge dissemination work.

  • Later no longer participated in core team work. Later withdrew from the Kaspa community due to some events.

  • https://x.com/DesheShai

5. KEF Foundation

The KEF Foundation has sponsored much of Kaspa's core development work and has made many contributions to Kaspa's development.

6. Kaspa Builders

Info

In addition to the core development team, Kaspa also has many excellent builders who have created many projects such as block explorers, wallets, smart contracts, etc. Following them can help you understand the development progress of the Kaspa ecosystem.

Last Update: